“A LOSS TO THE EMPIRE.”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19476, 11 May 1925, Page 10

“A LOSS TO THE EMPIRE.”

By Iho Hen. J. CrtAHUE. I ITo who hath bent liim nVr (lie deail, jj Ere till- lint buy of life is tied, | The first dark day of iinlhinyVss, | 'J'lu, 1 last of danuvr and distress. —Byron. Death has claimed one of our best public men in the history of the dominion. lake! Hr Massey for ail in ail, in Ids adminislra-j lion and achievement, it "’ill bo hard foij Ills successois to follow his footsteps and! lid Ids place as, leader of this country, 'iliol genuine anxiety felt and sympathy displayed by all classes throughout his long illness, from one end of the dominion id the other, was a grout tribute to the mar.j for Ids personal worth and public career. I When I entered Parliament in 1908 M!i| Massey was tho leader of a small party. l| am safe in saying that there never was a more imiled hand of men of any party in Parliament. 1 might call thorn a ban til or brothers, toyal to a man to their leader.j .Mr Massey was pre-eminent as a leader o!| Opposition. 'i.o be leader with. such at smail following, and achieve what they did, required a strong man, mentally and physically. Mr Massey possessed these qualities. He was at his post in Pari in-f merit at the opening and closing of every| sitting. His duties as loader were rnosfi arduous, anti I understood he hud no private! secretary to help him in his correspond-! cncc, to produce data for his speeches, andfj ids criticism of tho measures and business brought before the House. True.K hj was ably supported by Messrs James! Allen, William Kerries, William Fraser,| anti A. L. 1/crdiuan, and others of hisn party. It was a fine example of whatS unity, loyally, and theroughness can ac-H complisli. It appeared in those days, be-B tween 19G8 and 1011, that their position.S with their insignificant number, compared! with the large majority of the t hen Govern 0 mont, was. hopeless. At the election of| 1911, however. Sir Joseph Ward’s Govern-fj merit majority vanished. Iho Reform andg I.inoral Parties wore just, about equal. In! 1912 the short-lived Maiskenizo Government! went cut, and Mr Massey became Primeg Minister, a position ho held till his death.n He was (ho only Prime Minister in theg Empire, or perhaps in the world, who he!d| that position before, through the war, and! after. Mr Massey’s tenure of office was! anything but a bed ’of roses. Starting! with life big strike in 1913, all through! the war and the aftermath of the war, Mi| Massey went through times that only a| strong, courageous man could survive imlß carry the burden. _ I

Air Massey lias been called a Conservative, but was lie’? 1 had the privilege of being a member of the Public Accounts Corn mi; tee during the last few years of my parliamentary career as a member of (he elective I louse.' Along with other members. I \va.clesely associated with Mr Massey. A: our meetings in the Cabinet room we dealt with hand Tax, Income Tax, and Death Duty Hills, and the country’s finances generally. At these deliberations I- was impressed with Air .Massey’s earnest desire to do the right thing for all classes el tin- people. Hu often showed that he was far more Liberal in his advocacy of his measures titan scene of his parly who were mi the committee. Air Alasscy. personally, if left to himself, was a Liberal in the into sense of the word. His (Jovernmcnt has put on the dictate Book of this do. minion as libera! —.l might say ns radical measures as have been passed in any country. Though. Mr Massey had not a university

| training, yet he was a well-informed man. i well versed in literature. He liked good i poetry, and that ho must have been a I reader and student cf the Bible wag shown j by his ready quotations from that source. No public man worthy of the name can please everybody. Mr Massey had his political enemies as well as many friends; I but is it not an eloquent tribute to his personal worth that he held the high office of Prime Minister for so long, through the most trying time of the history of this country? When lately in the Old Lund, I heard, from the King downwards, many expressions ■of esteem for Mr Massey. Whether in London, Edinburgh, or Glasgow, whore he was known by his brief visits and speeches at these centres, it was, often repeated to me: “We like your Mr Massey. He is a patriot and a strong upholder of the British Empire. He has done the State great ser- ; vice.” And this is universally recognised, i Mr Massey’s death is a great loss not i only to this dominion, but to the Empire.

AN INSPIRING LEADER

A ZEALOUS SERVANT OF THE STATE.

By S. SArNPKiis, formerly Editor of the Lyttelton Times.

History—if history be written aright—will assign a high place to Mr Massey among the big-hearted, patriotic men who have spent themselves ungrudgingly _ in the service of Now Zealand. As Prime Minister his legislative and administrative achievements are comparable with those of the greatest of his predecessors, and as a leader of the people his ardent Imperialism, his dauntless courage and his insistent optimism in a time of unparalleled national stress inspired the whole country i with cheery confidence and determination. ! lie may have been lacking in vision ana 3 imagination, and even in some of the other Inmate qualities of statesmanship; but he | was rich in the possession of the faith I that moves mountains, in the hope that I springs eternal and remains undismayed, and in the charity that suffereth long and is kind. Ills political career was scarcely |of his own choosing. Greatness was thrust 3 upon him rather than desired. When he I first entered the House of Representatives in 1894 hits equipment for the task he had undertaken, with little thought for the morrow, consisted of a sanguine temperaI ment. a nodding acquaintance with a I pchool primer on political economy, and a j- : t,.ut heart. The sanguine temperament and the stout heart served him well, hut his superficial acquaintance with political economy came nigh to bringing about'his undoing. At the end of his first session, disappointed and discouraged, he would have gone hack to his farm, bereft of manv ideals” and some illusions, never to return. But the older members of his party, seeing much promise in the young man, dissuaded him from his purpose, and he -returned to Parliament to fight valiantly in Opposition for 18 years and hold office with high distinction and credit for a further 13 years. But to-day most of those who are mournine the passing of this striking figure in the public life of the dominion are tlnnkin<r rather of the man than of the politician. A steadfast friend, a chivalrous opponent, kindly hearted and intenseh human, Mr Massey was a lovable man to alt who came near enough to him to I appreciate his qualities of heart and hand, his strength and his weakness. Though ho had read diligently and thought deeply when ho first came to Parliament ne affected neither tho graces of the courtier nor the culture of the student, and it was the fashion among supercilious observers at that time to regard him as a, politician of the stolid unimaginative type, a somewhat dull fellow inclined in take' himself and his mission in life too seriously But the older and more sagacious members of his own party saw further below the surface and discovered in the sturdv voting man from Wa.itema.ta, with his rough exterior and blunt speech, the makings of the persistent critic and strenuous fighter their cause sorely needed at that particular time. It was William Rolleston, as Mr Massey afterwards was proud to tell, who by the word in season induced the future Prime Minister, when assailed with doubfs and misgivings, to hold fast to the opportunities destiny and his own efforts had _ brought his way. He was a long timo in reaching the goal his friend and-mentor had set before him, hut those 18 years he spent in Opposition, never again questioning tho decree of Fate, were invaluable in his preparation for the groat work that lay awaiting him in the years beyond. Long before' their expiration he had become one of the best equipped members of the House, admittedly tho readiest of its debaters and the most tactful and inspiring of its leaders. His opportunity for the wider exercise of these qualifications came with the I'eneral election of 1911, which left the attenuated Liberal Party clinging to office by the casting vote of the Speakev. Tho ill-starred Mackenzie Ministry held the remnants of Mr Seddon’s big battalions together for a few months, and then Mr Massey came into his own. And yet not fully into his own. He had led the forces of Reform to victory by his almost unaided effort; but the spoils were not to be his alone. His party had been out of office for 21 years; it had _nn> sat on the Treasury Benches since he had been in Parliament'. In these circumstances his colleagues of necessity were drawn almost entirely from the more inert and less progressive section of the old Conservative” Party, which never would have had the wit to shape its policy towards

modorn thought nor to change its name to “Reform.” For two years he made Ure best ho could of the load he was carrying narrowly escaping being sent back to the cool shades of Opposition at the General Election four months after the commencement of the Great War. Then came the National Cabinet and the suspension ofparty strife till just before the General Election of 1919, which gave him the only substantial majority he ever enjoyed. It was during the life of that Parliament that ho was seen at his strongest and best. During the war lie bad become the undoubted dominant force in the Cabinet and lie never after relaxed his bold upon affairs of State that mattered. In the interval he had forgotten the precepts of the political economy of his youth, had renoimc.ed the timidity of his old associates, had framed a progressive policy of Inn own, and had fra'nkly confessed his conversion to tho tenets ot Bibcialism, if not lo their popular interpretation. All this has been counted against Mr Massey bv his opponents, and, indeed, by some of his friends, as inconsistency and insincerity, as bidding for votes and renouncing principles : but no politician ever was more in earnest or more courageous than was the Prime Minister when he stood nn in the House and admitted in reply to taunts of this raid, that with the passage of the years he' had changed his mind on manv questions, that he had not been ashamed to learn from other people, evenfrom his political opponents, and that his conscience accused him of no wrong in having profited by observation and experience during his journey through life. Ho knew his Emerson well, as he knew many other literary giants, bub it was on an other occasion, and with a. different purpose that he quoted the great American’s description of consistency as “the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” His facility in the use of happy quotations "of this kind was astounding, considering how little time he can have had for reading in the later years of his life: and bis acquaintance) with the text of his Bible, from cover to cover, was simply marvellous. A friendly biographer has pictured him as a deeply rclHous man, who regarded the Bible a;the’finest book that ever was written. U required no depth of religion to shape this estimate of the Great Book, but in very fact this zealous servant of the State was an earnest, practical, broad-minded Christian, who found expression for the imaged faith of his forefathers in good

works without number, in patient forbearance, and in devotion to what he con ceived to be the best interests of ins country. He leaves to New Zealand .* rich heritage of remembrance and inspiration.

THE STATESMAN AND THE MAN

A. TRIBUTE. By M. R. Those who met Mr Massey for the first time when he came into Parliament in 1894 little dreamt that one day ho would be Prime Minister of New Zealand. And yet there was an indefinable something about tiie man that arrested attention even then. One instinctively took to him He had personality, and a transparent honesty that appealed to a man in touch with but not of the congregation of politicians. He took his place on a back bench in an Opposition, weak in numbers, but strung in debating power, facing whom was the masterful and able R. •!. Seddon, with Pember Reeves, Ward, and John M‘Kenzie as staunch and determined followers. On the cross benches were Grey, then an old man, usually wrapped in an overcoat and a muffler, still talking in a tremulous voice about the unborn millions, and Stout, still an orator, who bad returned to Parliament after a. sojourn in the wilderness following his Dunedin defeat by James Allen. To the. casual observer in those days Mr Massey was just the ordinary type of colonial farmer—a. graduate from the local boards and societies. He was a man of strong physique and industrious habits. A whipship was going a-begging, and he was ■mrs-nadcd to take it. It was the first stepping-stone to future greatness. With industry were combined tact and shrewd common sense. He was no orator nuoting the classics, but the days of oratorical effort in Parliament were already draw ing to their dose, and Massey’s simple directness and lucid-ty of speech were occasionally used with effect in' the debates. The time came when be faced Seddon as leader of his Majesty’s Opposition. Throughout-his long years in that position the writer got to know Mr Massey as not many men knew him. His industry and his determination, often undermost depressing circumstances, , were phenomenal. With little money in the party's fighting fund, and unable at first to afford a secretary or a typist, he fought on as a mere matter of duty, uncomplaining and hopeful, answering all his correspondence with his own hand. With no one to “devil” for him he mustered the contents of every Bill that came before the House, and he was never absent from his seat on the front Opposition bench. He came to his lodgings only to eat and sleep, and often he had scant time for either. It is not the object of the writer to deal with the various stages of his political history, but rather with the personality of the man him self. The unswerving determination with which he fought his way to victory against great odds has not yet been for gotten, nor will his modesty, his tolerance, hi.s generosity, soon fade from the menfory of his friends, nor even bis political enemies. At the very outset- of bis career as leader of the Opposition, Mr Seddon gave him a handsome testimonial, and he, in his turn, paid eloquent tribute when that statesman was ho longer w>th ns. Nearly every man and woman in the dominion knows ■that Mr Massey , was a courageous man. But at the same time hr, was a very loveable man. None more readily forgave his enemies.- Indeed, he not only forgave, but in after years grunted favours which, indeed, they had small right to expect. For his friends he did as a rule little by way of favours, and he scorned nepotism as he would the Devil. In his family life he was a model to all.

There have been times -when one has seen him like a lion at bay fighting against some enemy onslaught. On other occasions one noted bis tactful efforts in calming the /raters of a troubled political sea, or in assuaging the brewing storm. There were times, too, when, in the interests of the State, and perhaps even m the interests of the party, he had to bear with fools and suffer knaves, but $ with him the, party existed not for his I own glorification, but for the good of the I neople as a whole. I For one who had not a university I education he had a wide range of knowj ledge, gained through contact with men I ivho mattered and the reading of E books that were worth while. In I recent years his reading perforce was I nearly all done on Saturday evenings and | Sundays. Under his world-wisdom, his I reserve, and his shrewdness, there was fa vein'of sentiment, and his wonderful I memory held unexpected stores of poetry. I Speaking of tho war one day during hia I illness ho quoted “In Flanders Field’’ I from beginning to end. Shakespeare dej lighted him, and the Bible be knew as I few in Parliament knew it. He delighted in the verse of the Imperial poets, and j Kipling was his favourite. “If” first reached New Zealand at a time when he j was not overwhelmed, for one could never use that word with regard to Mr ! Massey, but beset with political troubles. Its wonderful message be committed to I memory, and made it his gospel, many I times quoting lines from it to strengthen an assertion or clinch an argument. Ke was a man who was not spoiled by power, and, to the last, simplicity and unselfishness were outstanding features in his character. Of late years he had little time for the preparation of his speeches aiid, usually, he spoke on the spur of the moment. Sincere and touching were his references to those who had passed away. One by one the friends of his early political days were passing to their last rest, and he sorely felt the loss of such men as Rolleston, Russell, Herries, Fraser, and Buchanan. When the time came to speak of the death of past members of I Parliament his utterances came straight | from the heart—sentences that needed no I polishing. On such occasions all political I differences and enmities were forgotten, and he was generous alike to friend and foe, as witness his striking tribute in Parliament to Seddon, his old political enemy. During all the years of the war and its aftermath he carried a load that taxed his strength, a load that few men could have borne, and during his last I years of office he was hampered and saddened by the selfishness and the unreliability of some few of his own supporters. The worry and vexation may have accentuated his illness, and if at times we thought him irritable in the closing days of his last session, wc now know the reason, and that he would have been more than human to have been otherwise. But evcq these little irritabilities were over in an instant mid then forgotten. They were but the fleeting shadows of a summer cloud. In his long and honourable .political career there are many incidents that will become historical. Those who had the | privilege of being in touch with him in England and in France when the nation was pouring out its life’s blood on foreign J fields, and also in those almost equally | fateful years that followed the armistice, know with what courage he fought for right and justice. Then he made many st’ranch friends in high places. Men who were foremost in the councils of the nations held him in high esteem. Dining j with him in the Hotel Majestic at a time when many of the best brains of the Empire were gathered in Paris one could not help noting how popular and reI spected he was. Milner, arriving late on j a hurried visit from London, and coming in to dinner in his tweeds, would go straight to hia table for a handshake and a few friendly words. A great jurist, who did not forget him in his last illness, would seek his company and his advice. An Indian Prince, in his khaki uniform and wearing the ribands of his orders, would detach himself from a. picturesque entourage to give him a friendly erecting. Henry Wilson, the great general and strategist, the friend of Foch, was also Massey’s friend. Many other notables and the brilliant secretariat paid tribute to his probity, his courage, and his vision. Tire foreign delegations recognised in him a strong supporter of the British Empire and its Allies. More recently those who watched him in the Guildhall when Baldwin was receiving tho freedom of the greatest city in tha world—K>f w’hich he himself was

already a freeman —were struck with his outstanding figure in that notable assemblage. Beside him were brilliant uniforms, and gorgeous robes_ —yet the stalwart figure in the plain black coat dominated them all. His ruddy face and massive head and - boulders were in keen contrast to the lean aquiline darkness of the Rajah who stood beside him, brilliant in gold embroideries and jewels. In his long and honourable career in New Zealand there are incidents that stand forth as striking illustrations of his untiring energy, his courage, and resource. One such was his prompt action when the Prince of Wales's itinerary became suddenly interrupted at Rotorua by the strike of the railway engine-drivers and firemen. The Prince’s staff and the British newspaper correspondents marvelled when he set out on that long and riskv night journey over the dangerous roads that led him through the wild country between Rotorua and Napier, and thence on to Wellington, with the object of settling the strike. Again his unflinching courage and resource were exemplified during- the big strike of 1913. From one who was a guest in the Ministerial residence in Wellington in those stormy times the writer has often heard the story of incidents I that the public knew nothing of. Through | it all—even when his life was repeatedly I threatened—he remained wonderfully calm | and collected. After breakfast be would a thrust his loaded revolver into his pocket I and set out on his daily walk from Tinai kori road to his office in Parliament ! buildings. One night some hundreds or I the mob formed up with torches, and, I singing “We’ll ha.ng Bill Massey on a I Sour Apple Tree,” proceeded to march 9 upon the residence with the avowed ip.tenI ticn of burning it down. Word was’ got I through to the Prime Minister. Mr I Massey was simply amused. ‘‘Oh, that’s Sail right,” he said. “Let them come Jon. There are already a hundred mounted I men guarding Tinakori.. road, so never I fear. They won’t go far,” A.nd so it I was. The valiant incendiaries got wind lof the mounted barricade and halted at a cross street, where, after a few hot-air speeches, the demonstration fizzled out. More serious was the situation one stormy night when the mounted men were marching into Wellington from the country. The strikers were waiting for them at. a dangerous part of the route ready I with stones to stampede the horses; but, I fortunately, in the pitch darkness the I horsemen, in strange country, mistook the I way. , Mrs Massey and a friend waited | for the return of the Prime Minister from I his office. He had been anxious, knowing I what was afoot, to got news of the arrival I of the contingent, and did not reach home I until between two and three in the morn--3 ing. “Thank God,” ’he said, “that in the J darkness they missed their way on the | hills, and came in by an unexpected route. | They are all safe in barracks new, and 9 the strikers are out in the rain still waat- | ing for them.” | The last decade of his life was passed 3 in stirring times, such as none had seen | before, but he bravely shouldered his way through all the difficulties of the fateful years, his stout heart beating in tune to the victorious march of a united Empire which, with him, had become a passion. He had troops of friends, and they were in‘ every walk of life—from the I messenger who served him so faithfully in Wellington to the King m Buckingham Palace. He had an extraordinary memory for faces, and always a cheery greeting for the humblest as for the highest. Sometimes it took the form of a merry wink, perhaps to the Press Gallery from the floor of the House, or to someone in the street who thought the Prime Minister might pass him by unnoticed. His staff’, who hud, perforce, often ■ to- work long hours, and at times under great pressure, had a real affection for the man, and j served with him with conspicuous loyalty. They spoke of him as “The Chief.” When, jon the day of his operation, a heavy blow fell upon them they were changed I men and women, hoping against hope for some ray of sunshine. And they must have been saddened too, yet proudly pleased, with the new work that came to their hands as, day by day, they had to read and answer the tributes 'thatpoured in from friends and acquaintances and strangers in their own land, amt from all parts of the Empire. Lewis, his own personal servant, was broken-hearted when after the operation he feared that the end could not be far away. He was constantly with him during his illness. “You come with me to the hospital, Lewis,” he, said, “you will do me as much good as the doctors.” And Lewis I went with him, knowing all the time that a great man and a staunch friend I wes slowly passing away. I The fortitude with which Mr Massey bore his last illness, and his strength of mind and body impressed everyone in close touch with him. Someone wished to help him up the steps at the hospital door as be entered on the eve of his operation, but- be scorned the proffered aid. [The day after the. operation he insisted on I getting” out of bed, and did so, to the istonishment of everyone who knew what he had gone through. It was only when there were grave doubts whether his life would be spared for a few "more years that one began to realise what a hold his kindliness and his nobleness of character had gained upon the people. In Wellington—as apparently throughout New Zealand—the sad news ot the turn his illness had suddenly taken caused deep and lasting. There is a pathetic human interest in many of the letters of sympathy that came pouring in during those days from all classes and from all sections of the community. It was but few of these he was able to see or read, but he was given to know something of their numbers and th« admiration and the love "for the strong and honest man that breathed in their lines. The highest and the humblest, each in their own way, indicated their concern, and their affection, and their hope that Death would stay Ins hand. 1 But all the time those who were close to him knew that this could not be. In the da-vs when he had to be a prisoner in his own home we never knew how reallv ill he -was. He himself didn’t know. FTe never knew. One who sometimes nsed to sit at his bedside to cheer- him up with bright conversation and amusing anecdote found him still an interested listener, and ever hopeful of being again soon able to take up the heavy burden he had laid aside, But- this was not to be. And now— He sees behind him green and wide The pathway of his pilgrim years; He sees the shore, and dreadless hears The whisper of the creeping tide. For out of all his days, not one Has passed and left its unlaid ghost To seek a light for ever lost, Or wail a deed for ever done. So for reward of life-long truth He lives again, as good men can, Redoubling bis allotted span With memories of a stainless youth.